Swayman Vs The Bruins

[Dr Jan Itor]

How can you possibly call the man selfish? He's negociating his salary at work. This is his career, what feeds his family.

The reason i hate hard salary caps like in the NHL is that it unjustly turns the fans against the players. Don't be like that.

Well, under Boston's current cap situation, demanding/getting $9M instead of taking $8M will cost another player their NHL job and salary. So he's putting his additional $8M over that players' NHL dream, ability to feed his family.

 

[WhataKnight]

God, I f***ing hate winter but I’m glad hockey is back.

That said, Neely and the Bruins can hang their coat on “44 games max” like a hook made out of diamond. Bussi isn’t that much older (screw it; give him a shot) and while Swayman absolutely has the right to seek what he believes he’s worth, likely due to his agent, he doesn’t seem to be willing to accept that there could be a way to negotiate this contract in a way that doesn’t immediately weaken the Bruins.

It’s partially the B’s fault for trading Ullmark and signing Zadorov and Lindholm before minding the mess in their own closet. Still, Swayman seems to display an inflexibility here on a level from which, after those arbitration hearings obviously stung him as they did, he and/or his agent seem incapable of vacating.

From a managerial perspective, this matter getting so loud risks steering any return on a trade intended to open cap room for Sway to straight-up ‘abfall’, and while Swayman is dealing with numbers rooted in hypotheticals, that “44 starts” number the Bruins can point at is etched in record.

I don’t believe Swayman is explicitly greedy. I do think Lewis Gross is an explicit wanker.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

(Everyone wishing their management played hardball like they do in Vegas? Bear witness.)

 

[Ulysses31]

He is 100% correct. I'll never begrudge someone trying to get the most money they can for a job.

However, it kinda ignores the bombshell dropped about him writing down the negatives that were used against him in arbitration and him being pety towards the team. That is killing Swayman in the court of public opinion now because to some it comes across that he is acting like a woman airing dirty laundry for a Netflix show. If he writes that down for personal motivation and nobody knows? No problem with that. However, he did not do that. He did nothing but damage his rep by making that info public and is now further creating a circus around the team.

Contract holdouts happen all the time across sports and that is a routine circus. It gets worked out. Leaking arbitration pettiness against an organization does not happen all the time, and now that has throw a big thing of fuel on the fire and made this a bigger deal than it should be.

/agree, bout the paper n chainz

 

[RobsonStreet]

Well, under Boston's current cap situation, demanding/getting $9M instead of taking $8M will cost another player their NHL job and salary. So he's putting his additional $8M over that players' NHL dream, ability to feed his family.

NHL teams have a minimum roster size (20) and minimum salary ($775,000). No player is falling into poverty or unemployment over this. Leon Draisaitl’s new deal didn’t trigger a humanitarian crisis, come on now.

 

[BB79]

How can you possibly call the man selfish? He's negociating his salary at work. This is his career, what feeds his family.

The reason i hate hard salary caps like in the NHL is that it unjustly turns the fans against the players. Don't be like that.

Yeah, his family would be in poverty eating out of the dumpster behind the Garden with that slave labor 8x8 contract. How can Neely sleep at night?!

 

[Dr Jan Itor]

NHL teams have a minimum roster size (20) and minimum salary ($775,000). No player is falling into poverty or unemployment over this. Leon Draisaitl’s new deal didn’t trigger a humanitarian crisis, come on now.

I said or implied nothing of the sort.

 

[MoneyManny]

We are talking generational wealth here, not what feeds his family. More like "will my great-great grandchildren have a winery in Tuscany or not?".

What does it matter to you what his paychecks look like? To him it's still a job.

Yeah, his family would be in poverty eating out of the dumpster behind the Garden with that slave labor 8x8 contract. How can Neely sleep at night?!

 

[MoneyManny]

Well, under Boston's current cap situation, demanding/getting $9M instead of taking $8M will cost another player their NHL job and salary. So he's putting his additional $8M over that players' NHL dream, ability to feed his family.

Then trade him to a team that's willing to agree to his demands. It's not on the players to fit the team under a salary cap.

 

[SensontheRush]

What does it matter to you what his paychecks look like? To him it's still a job.

Weird Ad Hominem.

Then trade him to a team that's willing to agree to his demands. It's not on the players to fit the team under a salary cap.

You'll be hard pressed to find a team that would be willing to give him the money he wants. Name just one even.

A player can think they are worth $100m, but if the most any one team in the league is willing to pay him is $1m, they are worth $1m.

 

[RobsonStreet]

I said or implied nothing of the sort.

My mistake; I guess we agree that under Boston's current cap situation, demanding/getting $9M instead of taking $8M won’t cost another player their NHL job and salary and won’t materially impact another player’s NHL dream or their ability to feed their family.

 

[WhataKnight]

Not mad at Swayman (except for employing Gross.)
Not even mad at Neely.

This is a Lewis Gross issue in my eyes until it’s proven untrue, given his tendency for rocky negotiations.

If the two sides could negotiate as well as they attempt to nutshot each other, Swayman could have been amenable to a short “bet on yourself” deal that didn’t require the Bruins to cuff themselves before the cap inflation provided the room to get Swayman a handsome, commensurate-with-Cup-winning-goalie-in-new-Cap-era deal.

I see a team stubbornly sticking to their guns on current Cap structure, a VERY good tandem goalie hoping he can throw a tantrum loud enough to distract from that 44 starts maximum long enough to get a contract that pays him like he puts those numbers up across 60……and an agent possessing both a track record for this kind of shit and willingness to flap his junk at the Bruins - as demonstrated with Torey Krug already.

Gross looks like the critical point of failure to me. And if he does hold grudges ever? Shit…..a successful attempt to “Borgia” a franchise to hell and back and possibly set them back some years in goal after turning the relationship between player and team to shit?

It isn’t like indicators of pettiness don’t already exist - Krug & Nylander.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Ridiculous or wrong? It would be ridiculous but it wouldn't be wrong of him, just dumb.

That is wrong.

Especially when his teammates share the same pool of money

 

[Nogatco Rd]

How many pages ITT before he signs a contract? I vote 39

 

[BB79]

How many pages ITT before he signs a contract? I vote 39

420

 

[Bread and Circuses]

420

 

[Bozo Nicholson]

Face it - Seabass shit the bed.

 

[Aashir Mallik]

How can you possibly call the man selfish? He's negociating his salary at work. This is his career, what feeds his family.

The reason i hate hard salary caps like in the NHL is that it unjustly turns the fans against the players. Don't be like that.

He was offered 62 million dollars over 8 years, the Swayman's are set for generations to come, are we seriously going to act like him taking 60 million is gonna make his kids or his family starve?

The fans in a situation like this rightfully have a reason to turn on swayman. The team has more than doubled his contract, even going and giving him an 8 year deal because he wants it even though a bridge makes way more sense, and yet he has been unwilling to take the extremely fair deal. You can blame the salary cap, but you didn't see Shesterkin/Oettinger come out and say I want 9m after their contract was up, they signed a bridge to earn the long term deal that they will get.

This isn't a case where swayman is being forcibly offered 8 or nothing, he wants the 8 years
This isn't a case where swayman has a proven track record, he's played tandem goalie his entire career
This isn't a case where boston is lowballing him, he's been offered double his current contract
This isn't a case where there isn't a role for him in the lineup, he's the clear starter if he comes back

Swayman should take a 4-6 x 3 bridge and then cash in at that 8+ once he has proven that he is worth that money. All he is showing right now is either:
a) he isn't confident in his ability to perform at that level
and/or
b) he doesn't care about showing his ability he just wants to get paid regardless, hence the selfish part

 

[paragon]

No, if you deserve $8m you better be playing 60 games. We aren’t talking your run of the mill $5m player here.

I think that's a stupid argument. It's not like today's goalies are incapable of playing 60. It's the GMs and coaches refusing to give goalies those loads these days. Only 3 goalies played over 60 games last season. Go back 15 years and half the goalies in the league played 60+.

This whole situation kind of reminds me of how Rask didn't get games when he had to play behind Thomas and everyone still knew Rask was geat and capable of handling the load. And btw Thomas played less than 60 games both times he won Vezina, because Bruins had a good backup goalie sharing the load. Rask got his 56 million 8 year deal after playing only 36, 23 and 29 games the 3 previous seasons, so there is a precedent for Swayman getting paid despite not topping 44 games and having only 132 games total. Rask had played 138 total and 45 games at most and that was 4 years before he signed his extension. But to be fair Rask got his deal after one of the best playoff performances of the modern era and reaching the Cup finals, so I don't think Swayman is quite at the level Rask was.

When Rask signed his 7M per deal the salary cap was 64.3M, which makes it 10.9% of the cap. Salary cap is now 88M. If Swayman was to get equivalent amount of money that would be 8 years and 76.6M or 9.58M per year.

I think 8x8 is a fair deal at this point of his career if they structure it with loads of signing bonuses.

 

[TheBeastCoast]

I do find it amusing how relentlessly Swayman is being shit all over. If he signs for 8x8 tomorrow, the contract will be a steal and he will be a top 5 goalie in the NHL by Monday.

 

[Peasy]

Gotta love all the B fans calling Swayman a whiner, a baby etc while their entire management team has been having a bunch of hissy fits at pressers and to the media when they say something they dont like.

 

[Beesfan]

Yeah, his family would be in poverty eating out of the dumpster behind the Garden with that slave labor 8x8 contract. How can Neely sleep at night?!

Perfect. I hate when athletes use those phrases like "putting food on the table" or feeding their family. The people who sharpen Swayman skates and carry his equipment bags are trying to feed their family when they look for a raise from Delaware North. Swayman is an already wealthy 25 year old who wants to be as rich as possible. I don't begrudge that one bit, but call it what it is. This negotiation is not about feeding his family, it is not a sacrifice to future players of any position, it is entirely about him getting the most for himself.

 

[JPT]

Perfect. I hate when athletes use those phrases like "putting food on the table" or feeding their family. The people who sharpen Swayman skates and carry his equipment bags are trying to feed their family when they look for a raise from Delaware North. Swayman is an already wealthy 25 year old who wants to be as rich as possible. I don't begrudge that one bit, but call it what it is. This negotiation is not about feeding his family, it is not a sacrifice to future players of any position, it is entirely about him getting the most for himself.

It is entirely possible that he is telling the truth when he says he is considering other goalies who sign deals in the next few years while simultaneously trying to get the best deal for himself as possible. Is he a liar, too?

 

[Beesfan]

It is entirely possible that he is telling the truth when he says he is considering other goalies who sign deals in the next few years while simultaneously trying to get the best deal for himself as possible. Is he a liar, too?

It is nice when your sacrifice for others is that you personally get paid an extra million per year.

To answer your question, he may not be lying about considering the impact on other goalies, but I think it is an insignificant factor and we would be in the same place without it.

 

[BB79]

Perfect. I hate when athletes use those phrases like "putting food on the table" or feeding their family. The people who sharpen Swayman skates and carry his equipment bags are trying to feed their family when they look for a raise from Delaware North. Swayman is an already wealthy 25 year old who wants to be as rich as possible. I don't begrudge that one bit, but call it what it is. This negotiation is not about feeding his family, it is not a sacrifice to future players of any position, it is entirely about him getting the most for himself.

100%. Don't forget the arena workers like the bull gang that change over from hockey and basketball, concessions workers, ushers, etc. A guy I worked with also was a hot dog vendor at Fenway for many years. Lugging that getup around on hot summer days and nights is hard work. It was a 2nd job for him. I asked him why he did it, he told me he just loved being at Fenway for the atmosphere, etc. Not even for the money. He sometimes gave us free food which was a plus

 

[JPT]

It is nice when your sacrifice for others is that you personally get paid an extra million per year.

To answer your question, he may not be lying about considering the impact on other goalies, but I think it is an insignificant factor and we would be in the same place without it.

My point was that you have no way of knowing if this is entirely a selfish move on Swayman's part. It's just the way you choose to view it for whatever reasons.

As for the first part, it's not exactly the type of labor solidarity I like to see, but unfortunately we live in a society that puts a premium on entertainment. That extra million per year has to be looked at in that context, and you have to consider the effort to raise the wage ranges for goalies could mean much more financial benefit for a lot of people than the million per year Swayman sees.